Detectives Need Jobs: Door to Door Sales

One possible job for detectives, that doesn't entirely exist anymore, is door-to-door sales. I hardly encounter door-to-door anyone these days. One reason is that I live in the city and like with many apartment complexes, our outside door is kept locked. Even politicians usually just leave their pamphlets on our doorstep. 

But even in the suburbs, other than Amazon and FedEx and UPS, the number of visitors, outside of family and friends, is much lower. Door-to-door sales still exist, but they are significantly lower than in the past. When I was growing up, a local charity would use door-to-door sales, with amateurs, as a matter-of-course. I did door-to-door sales for youth activities! (And lost my desire to ever do such a thing ever again.) 

Oddly enough, the reason for the downturn does not appear to be that door-to-door sales aren't effective. They actually are (comparatively speaking). But they have several strikes against them, including overhead and grifters selling to the elderly. 

From a mystery point of view, a door-to-door seller is a perfect detective! A range of locations, even economic locations. A range of products. A range of times. A reason to be on the premises. A reason to return. 

Dorothy Sayers in fact created Montague Egg, a wine merchant who operates (successfully, so he has return clients) through various towns and hotels. The short stories are more clever than gripping--I have a hard time remembering their plots (I am more likely to remember the locations). But Sayers--who tried out every plot type--did make the idea work. And Egg is a sweet-natured, dapper man who believes in his product and uses his expert knowledge to solve (usually, though not always) poisoning cases.  

I think a more modern version could make the door-to-door detective more brash and pushy, like Bob from Becker, who always talks about himself in the 3rd person.